Oh, My Leg!

I am at Week 5 on my 10K training guide!

At this stage, I can look at the possibility of doing 2.5 miles, and I don't feel so bad.  3 miles, I am starting to feel a bit more comfortable with, and anything beyond that, I am still a bit nervous about.  I am already starting to notice small changes in my appearance, my belly has lost a little extra fluff, and my face is getting a little thinner.  My legs are much stronger than they were, and the rest of my body is getting stronger.  I don't feel aches and pains regularly anymore like I used to, and I notice that I breathe better - even when I'm not running!  Even though I have thinned just a little bit, I have gained 6 pounds (probably from muscle weight) but I won't let that discourage me.  I'm eating much healthier foods (even though what I already ate before wasn't bad, now it's even better).  We'll be running our first 5K for the season in September, and then another one in October, November, and December.  We've even started looking into the Spring semester, and have already decided on a few of them!  So that is where I'm at right now :)

Monday

I got sick today... I drank too much caffeine, and I started feeling dizzy and nauseous... My body can't handle too much caffeine, and it sucks, and it effects me negatively whenever I drink it.  So I went home early from work today and went to sleep for 3 and a half hours :(  But when I woke up, and as I started feeling better, I went on a walk around the apartment complex.  I walked around four times, which I assume adds up to be about a mile and a half, maybe close to two miles (I have no real way of telling...) And then I went to sleep.

Tuesday

I decided that, since I hadn't run since last Wednesday, I would run a little bit tonight.  Frank and I went to Ben Lippen track to run laps (4 laps around a track = 1 mile).

Frank did his second best time for a mile in 8 minutes and 13 seconds!

I did pretty well (since I can't remember my ultimate best) =

I ran 1 mile in 10 minutes and 20 seconds!  

I beat my recent 1 mile mark of 1 mile in 12:07!  Go Jessica :)

However... after we were finished and we walked a lap to cool down, I started feeling a dull ache in the back of my leg...  By the time we got home, it had worsened and I was starting to get scared... I thought for a while that it might actually be a blodd clot... :( scawwy.  But I survived the night, and my pain hasn't spread, even though it hurts the more I walked.  I looked up some symptoms and treatments, and it turns out that I have shin splints.  And it hurts...

Wednesday

Since I have shin splints, I can't run, or even walk extensively on it, for a few days.  I need to ice it for 15 minutes every 4-6 hours,and I need to keep it propped regularly, and I need to stretch it very carefully every hours.  So for the next few days, I will be focusing on upper-body strengthening, and maybe some cycling if I can handle it.  This is fine by me, since my legs are very solid right now.  Whenever I started, I didn't have a whole lot of fat in my legs (thanks, genetics) but just a lot of fallen, unused muscle.  So now that that muscle in strengthened again, everything in my legs are solid.  Upper-body strengthening doesn't seem so bad then ;)

Thursday

I didn't do anything, my leg was hurting a lot and Frank left, so I took the night off and hung out with a friend :)

Friday

Rest Day

Saturday

I cleaned house... My leg was hurting a little bit still from the shin splints...  I felt so lazy without Frank here...